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Lyla Michaels
Lyla Michaels (1978-2014) Early life Lyla Michaels was a small town girl from Blue Valley. The daughter of a war hero turned politician and his trophy wife, Lyla was a sick child for much of her youth. As a teenager, Lyla’s father was elected to the U.S. Senate and took her for a fishing trip to Florida, hoping to get her some sun as he wined and dined some southern politicians. While her father and his fellow statesmen got wasted, Lyla fell overboard and her cries were not heard over the raucous, drunken laughter. With her limited strength, Lyla may have died that day if she wasn't saved by the Monitor, who needed her for a Crisis he saw coming many years later. Years later, Lyla Michaels met John Diggle in Afghanistan, where both were serving as soldiers, and then got married. At the end of John's second tour, they rotated back stateside but their marriage couldn't adapt to a civilian life and they eventually divorced. John went back to Afghanistan for a third tour, while Lyla was picked for service in A.R.G.U.S.. In around 2012, Lyla helped A.R.G.U.S. "liberate" and take down the apparently corrupt government of Kahndaq, as well as military general Ravan Nassar. Hunting Deadshot Two days before she was to leave for a mission to Pyongyang, Lyla met with John Diggle in Starling City, glad to see him again. John revealed to her the identity of assassin Floyd Lawton/Deadshot, who was high on A.R.G.U.S.'s list, and provided her with a USB detailing the whereabouts of the man who arranged for Lawton's targets. Lyla was shocked, as A.R.G.U.S. weren't even able to find his name. John explained it was for something he was working on, a lie which Lyla easily saw through. John later visited the main A.R.G.U.S. building, Lyla spotted him. She scolded him for trying to use her to hunt down Deadshot, and told him to do otherwise. Sometime later, Lyla was to meet with Floyd Lawton and bring him in. However, Floyd did not show and tried to snipe her from a distance. Lyla was saved by John, who attempted to follow Floyd but was knocked out. Rekindling with John Diggle Lyla meets with John and flirts with him when she discovers he is single again. She gives him information about military-grade weapons being stolen. She then reveals that she is single as well to him. They part ways soon after. Lyla is missing in Russia, having been captured during an intel operation in a Russian gulag. John is recruited to break her out, because A.R.G.U.S. does not have sufficient resources for the op, and the political masters already consider her disavowed and dead to them. John arranges to get arrested and sent to the prison, where he finds Deadshot, whom he teams with to break Lyla out of jail. Returning to the United States, John and Lyla rekindle their relationship. Lyla and John are enjoying a romantic interlude when they are sent on a mission by A.R.G.U.S. to lead the Suicide Squad in capturing and destroying a nerve gas in the possession of Gholem Qadir. During the mission, Amanda Waller kills Shrapnel when he tries to flee. This causes a rift between Lyla, who accepts Waller's methods, and John, who objects to their brutality. Later Lyla poses as John's bodyguard to infiltrate Qadir's party. She removes a tracking device from Deadshot in order to evade an A.R.G.U.S. drone, and she and John reconcile their differences. In a flashback sequence, Lyla is shown serving as a soldier in Afghanistan. She captures Gholem Qadir and is seen meeting John for the first time. Lyla freed the Suicide Squad to stop Amanda Waller from destroying Starling City. During this coup, Amanda revealed that Lyla is pregnant with John's child but kept it a secret from him. Fight against Onslaught After the extremist sect Onslaught kidnapped a group of school girls, Amanda Waller brief a number of A.R.G.U.S. agents, along with Lyla. Waller inquired as to how far along in her pregnancy she was, to which she stated four months. Lyla suggested that rescuing the girls be their top priority, but Waller simply believed that taking out the leader, Black Adam would suffice (this failed, epically). Rounding up the Suicide Squad, Lyla went to Guantanamo Bay to recruit Ravan Nassar. She suggested that he'd become too soft, but he knocked out the guards and agreed to join the team to help his country of Kahndaq. Lyla returned home and told John of her mission in Kahndaq. Dig refused to let her go, even offering to take her place. Allowing him in place of her, Lyla revealed that he'd be working with the Suicide Squad. Lyla returned to Waller, confirming that Ravan's chip had been implanted in his spine, as well as informing her that Diggle would be going in her place. Lyla helped the team on their way to Kahndaq, wishing John safety. Once they'd secured the kidnapped girls, Lyla sent in a vehicle to pick them all up. After the team returned from their mission, with an injured Bronze Tiger, Lyla reported to Waller, informing her that Nassar did not want to return to the team, but to prison. A while later, after Green Arrow had gone after the Renegades and the Church of Blood with no backup, Lyla helped Arsenal recruit Helena Bertinelli in order to help. The year before Crisis Lyla and John are expecting a girl and is only days away from labor. She is brought to the hospital but turned out to be a false alarm, only experiencing Braxton-hicks contractions. On her second trip to the hospital, Lyla gave birth to her daughter, with John by her side. Oliver and Felicity visited the happy couple to congratulate them. A couple days later, Lyla and John named their baby girl Sara in honor of their fallen friend, Sara Lance. Several weeks later, Lyla went to Santa Prisca on an A.R.G.U.S. assignment. Lyla was tracked down by Digger Harkness aka Captain Boomerang. Digger attempted to kill Lyla for her failed attempt of detonating his bomb located in his neck during his time in Task Force X. Lyla is hit by a boomerang and Flash took her to the hospital where John Diggle proposed. Lyla, convinced John to go with Oliver to Nanda Parbat to help him rescue Malcolm Merlyn, as she knew that the last time he did not go with Oliver when he was apparently killed by Ra's al Ghul, John felt guilty, and she didn't want him to go through that again. She married John for the second time. Their honeymoon was interrupted by Amanda Waller, who sent them with the Suicide Squad to rescue US Senator Cray from a hostage situation in Kaznia. It turned out Cray had staged the whole thing to boost his chances of winning the presidency. He and his men tried to kill the Suicide Squad and all the hostages, but the Squad managed to escape and free the hostages. Later, Lyla told John she had quit A.R.G.U.S. after Waller ordered her not to expose the senator, saying she wanted to set a good example for their daughter. She encouraged John not to leave Team Arrow. Silas Stone contacted Lyla for information on General Wade Eiling, having been told by A.R.G.U.S. that he was on administrative leave and she told him that Eiling had been missing for three months and A.R.G.U.S. had been covering it up. Oliver kidnapped Lyla as part of his trial to become Ra's al Ghul in order to force Diggle to bring Nyssa to him. When Diggle along with the rest of the Team Arrow arrived at the exchange sight to trade Nyssa for Lyla a fight broke out as Felicity managed to sneak Lyla a gun. In the end, Oliver managed to escape with Nyssa. Harbinger (2014) Then the time came for Lyla to summon the heroes the Monitor needed to protect his cosmic tuning forks when very few of the positive-matter universes remained. Entering into an energy chamber in the heart of the satellite, Lyla was transformed into a multiple-copy person named Harbinger and sent across time and through different universes to gather up the selected heroes: some went willingly, others by force, and yet others by coercion. On her way to gather Arion the sorcerer, a Shadow Demonpossessed one of Harbinger's copies, allowing the Anti-Monitor to manipulate and use her for his purposes. Ultimately, she was used to kill the Monitor, only to find out that the Monitor had intended for Harbinger to kill him so that he could activate the machines and shunt the Earths 1 and 2 universes into a Netherverse where they would be safe from the anti-matter wave. But with the vibrations slowing between the two universes, they started to merge with each other and would eventually annihilate each other. Harbinger gathered a group of heroes to send them to the remaining positive-matter universes of Earths 4, S, and X to protect its citizens from the anti-matter wave while she concentrated all her power on bringing those universes into the Netherverse. As she succeeded in doing so, Lyla lost her power to become Harbinger, though she continued to assist the heroes in other ways. With the resetting of the universe that took place following the battle at the Dawn of Time, Lyla became Harbinger again, revealing that with the resetting of time, all the surviving positive-matter universes have all merged into one universe with one history. She helped the heroes defeat the Anti-Monitor once and for all when he used his power to transport Earth into the anti-matter universe. She returned to Earth and joined her fellow surviving team members Lady Quark and Pariah in the exploration of the New Earth reality. Lyla Michaels (2014-Present) In the aftermath, Lyla continues to work for A.R.G.U.S, eventually helping Amanda Waller create the organization now known as Checkmate. Powers and Abilities Powers * Former Powers ** Cosmic Physiology: Having been altered by the Monitor, Lyla temporarily gained god-like abilities during the Crisis so she can serve as the Monitors right-hand. *** Energy Manipulation'':'' Lyla was able manipulate the forces and elements of the universe and generate cosmic energy from her eyes and hands. Because she was turned back into a human following the Crisis, she no longer has this ability. *** Teleportation'':'' By opening cosmic rifts, Lyla can "teleport" through space at hyper-light speeds. This ability also seems able to cross all dimensional thresholds at will. Because she was turned back into a human following the Crisis, she no longer has this ability. *** Force Field Generation'':'' Lyla can generate and manipulate Force Fields constructed of Cosmic Energy for a variety of effects such as protection or containment of hostile forces. Because she was turned back into a human following the Crisis, she no longer has this ability. *** Flight'':'' Lyla can fly using psionic energies. Because she was turned back into a human following the Crisis, she no longer has this ability. *** Cosmic Conscience'':'' Lyla has very sharp cosmic senses, which allows her to see the unseen, hear transmitted frequencies, and even gift another with insight through touch. Because she was turned back into a human following the Crisis, she no longer has this ability. *** Enhanced Physicality:'' ''Though not a being usually driven to exert herself physically, Lyla's strength, resilience, and durability scores all appear to be in the realm of at least Class VI. Because she was turned back into a human following the Crisis, she no longer has this ability. *** Bio-Fission:'' Lyla can literally be in several places at once through creating cosmic duplicates of herself. However, when doing so, her original form and each duplicate only contains a fraction of her power. Because she was turned back into a human following the Crisis, she no longer has this ability. Abilities * '''Military Training: '''Lyla is a skilled special forces operator. In the Marines, she was a Major before her retirement. * '''Peak of human physical condition:' As a former soldier and the leader of A.R.G.U.S., Lyla is in top physical condition. * Expert hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Lyla is a highly trained hand-to-hand combatant, having developed her combat skills during her time as a soldier. ** Expert markswoman: Due to her A.R.G.U.S. training, Lyla is highly trained with firearms. ** Expert knife welder: During her fight with Digger Harkness, Lyla was able to throw a few of Roy Harper's flechettes at him with great accuracy. * Bilingual: Lyla is capable of fluently speaking English and Arabic. * Network: As the leader of A.R.G.U.S., Lyla has connections within the organization. * Culinary expertise: Lyla is a talented cook, with many of her family and friends praising her dishes. Weaknesses * Loved Ones: '''If you were an idiot, you could try to go after Lyla by way of her family. She might kill youn, and her husband isn't exactly easy to take down either. * '''Occult: It may be possible to use powerful occult methods to interfere with her cosmic energy manipulation. * The Monitor: '''As Harbinger, Lyla's cosmic powers are at the mercy of the Monitor's discretion. As a result, she cannot use her powers to defy him. If she were mind controlled to against the Monitor, her powers would not respond. Likewise, when the Monitor is significantly weakened, this effect may make Lyla powerless as well. Because she reverted to a human after the Crisis, this is no longer a weakness. Equipment * '''Guns: Lyla primarily makes use of a pistol, wielding it quite effectively. She also is proficient in handling small caliber to high caliber firearms, such as rocket launchers or assault rifles. * Universe Orb: this orb held records of all events in all possible timelines, including those wiped out in the Crisis. Trivia and Notes Trivia * Lyla practices speeches and planned confrontations in the mirror or in elevators if she is alone. * Lyla is a huge Christmas fan, going overboard with decorations for the holidays and usually taking her vacation around this time of year in order to spend as much time as possible with John and Sara. Even Lyla's favorite drink is, of course, eggnog. * While she can tolerate it, Lyla hates resorting to text messaging when she can just call someone instead. * Tells "mom" jokes and if she finds a joke funny, she might snort while laughing... even if she is the one who told the joke. * Orders her drinks on the rocks so she can chew the ice. * An alternative Harbinger was created by the Anti-Monitor from Earth-Seven‘s Donna Troy. Because of this previous relationship, Donna Troy will inherit Harbinger’s Universe Orb after her death. Notes * Lyla Michaels was created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez for DC Comics and first appeared in New Teen Titans Annual #2 (August, 1983).